Stranded
by The-Great-Ranger
Summary: The destruction of the Reaper Fleet causes the Sol System to be cut off from the entire galaxy.
1. Chapter 1

Agonizing pain, every limb on my body screamed it! I could not see anything, for I was surrounded by darkness. Was this life after death? Had I beaten Mindoir, Saren, the Collectors and the entire Reaper fleet only to be gifted with eternal suffering? I always had hoped to see my father after death, and recently had hoped to see Williams, Mordin, and Anderson. Perhaps this was my punishment for not being able to save more lives? Whatever the reason was, the agony I felt was too great. I shut my eyes.

…

I began to wake up, the pain though lessened was still there. With what energy I had I tried to open my eyes, and was successful. I was in some med bay, and noticing a window nearby, I peered from my position apparently on an operating table to look outside. I was greeted with the sight of endless space. So I was in a ship, but how had they pick me up on the citadel? They could not had gotten through the Reaper fleet… unless the Crucible had worked. Hearing footsteps, I turned to face whoever it was creating the noise.

"Shepard!" the Batarian exclaimed as he approached me, "I knew you were too stubborn of a human to die!"

"Good to see you up and walking Bray. Not to be rude but what the hell happened?"

"Well…" Bray paused for a moment as he checked my wounds, "…our fleet was being ripped apart. Hackett thought you were dead and the Crucible a failure. He ordered everyone to pull out of the Sol system. My small freighter, the one you are on, was hit and we could not make the jump along with a few other ships. Lucky for us it was not long until you did whatever it was you did to fire the crucible. Soon after, the few of us left started helping other survivors on Earth and the Citadel, we are still searching the hundreds of escape pods. "

"Where is the fleet now, and what about the Council?"

"The Council? Those scumbags are dead, if they were alive someone would had found them by now. As for the Fleet, well no good news there. All communication software advanced enough that would allow someone to contact another in a different system has been fried, and we have not been able to fix it yet. One of the better off ships were able to repair themselves enough to leave this system and hopefully go through the relay but when they reached it they discovered the relay had been hit by the same blast that almost tore apart the citadel. Now it is repairable, but we lack the materials and tools to fix it. I assume the fleet is working right now to fix the relay on their end so they can send someone."

"Bray how long have I been out?"

"Found you myself the day after the Reapers were destroyed, and you have been in a coma the past five days."

"That long?"

Laughing, Bray leaned against the operating table next to Shepard.

"Ha-ha, Shepard you worry too much. The Reapers are dead, the galaxy is safe and earth is saved, all is good! Anyway, Doc Heplorn found another piece of shrapnel in you and was about to get it out when you started to wake, so he sent me-"

"Doctor Mealon is operating on me!"

"Calm down Shepard, whatever happened in the past is in the past. He wants to help you. Now take this sedative so he can operate. I will have a surprise for you when you wake up"

Reluctantly I swallowed the pill in Bray's hand and soon drifted into slumber. As I slept I thought of Liara, Earth, Anderson, family and the comrades that had served or died with me throughout this war. If the Council listened to me at the start, how many lives would had been saved? Impossible to know. My last thoughts before waking were of myself and Liara, and hopefully our future tiny blue children.

"Bray, Shepard might be waking soon…" Maelon said as he stood over me, then stepped back in surprise when my eyes suddenly opened, "…yes definitely awake."

"Ok, now get out of here Doc, no need to freak him out," as Maelon left the room Bray turned to me, and smiled as he thought of whatever the surprise was, "I am going to enjoy this Shepard."

Chuckling, Bray took a step back. The door to the med bay opened. Through the doorway walked in a person wearing the Rear Admiral uniform of the Alliance.

"Mom? How did you get here?"

"The ship I was on, you remember the SSV Orizaba, took a bad hit and crash landed on Earth. A reaper was about to finish us off but you saved me and my crew when you activated the crucible. You saved everyone, I am proud of you and your father would had been too... On a sad note, I heard about Admiral Anderson and several other of your crewmembers, how are you dealing with all this?"

"I lost a lot of good friends, but I will survive. I'm glad you stopped by."

"So am I. Unfortunately I need to leave, as the highest ranked Alliance officer left I am needed on Earth. I hope you get well soon."

As my mother hugged me good bye and walked out as quickly as she had come in, I could not help but feel that everything would turn out right after all. Soon the Fleet would send in aide, and with a little luck perhaps the galaxy will experience peace at long last. I sure as hell would not complain about it.

…

Over the next few days I drifted in and out of sleep. Various crew members and visiting space captains stopped by to see me, usually for autographs or just to ask several questions. Bray came by often to swap stories, and my mother came when she could to talk. Maelon insisted I would have to remain on the ship for the time being on the account of my considerable injuries. Nether less as soon as I could stand I did whatever I could to aid the crew. The small freighter had taken a hit that had gone through its hull. The crew took whatever help they could get to help make repairs, the hit through the hull had also left many empty beds and chairs. Needless to say the crew was shorthanded. I was repairing some wirelines with a salarian on the seventh day of my recovery when I was surprised when Bray called me up to the Bridge.

"Bray, what is the-"

"Shepard no time for idle chat," Bray lead me over to one of the terminals, "Take a look at this, one of the turian ships assigned to watch the relay just returned and transmitted this to me. With this picture contains a message, apparently the ship is the only survivor and it only had time to transmit this to us before its life support failed."

"Any survivors from the ship?"

"No escape pods were launched."

"Make sure this gets out to everyone, we only have twenty minutes at best before they arrive."


	2. Chapter 2

Bray turned to his communications officer.

"Get the message out to everyone in range, Cerberus ships are inbound…" Bray stopped for a moment as he thought, "…and get me a link to Rear Admiral Shepard."

"Aye, Aye." the communications officer then turned back to his terminal and begun his work.

"Shepard," Bray turned to face me, "You inform your mother; I have to get this ship moving."

As I stood there waiting for a link to be established with my mother, I gazed out into the void of space thinking of how little time there was to prepare.

"Commander, pardon the interruption," the communications officer turned to me, "…but I established communications with the Rear Admiral."

Walking over to the terminal I was greeted with my mother's voice.

"John, what is the matter?"

"All the ships stationed at the relay have been destroyed by Cerberus vessels, and they will be arriving-"

"Shepard!" I turned as Bray called me, "Six Cerberus ships just appeared on our long range sensors! One dreadnought, two cruisers and three frigates!"

"Mother, change of plans, the Cerberus ships just arrived. One dreadnought, two cruisers and three frigates. Orders?"

"A dreadnought, damn…"

"Orders?"

"…See if you can lure one of the Cerberus ships near the south side of the moon, recently when I had a make-shift port placed there I was able to have a few turrets installed that are capable of taking down enemy ships. I also had some installed around our main HQ in London, but I do not want to risk debris bombarding it. Once a Cerberus ship is shot down, I will send a team to investigate. We could get vital intel from the downed ship, even if it is a frigate. Meanwhile I will be rallying what ships and ground troops that are available. Best of luck out there, Shepard out."

Walking over to Bray, I wondered how he would react to the orders. His ship was already damaged and he was now being ordered to drive straight into the enemy fleet. He would probably need convincing. After telling him our orders, I was proven right.

"She's as crazy as a rabid vorcha! My entire crew will die if I follow that order, this ship will not last five minutes of combat!"

I understood Bray's concern, if this was my ship, my crew, I would have doubts of this too. Hell I still had doubts of the orders. Nether less, this needed to be done.

"Calm down Bray, if we play smart we can do this without losing a single man. Listen, this data could save thousands of lives and we are the closest ship. Not to mention if anything this ship is in better condition than any other ship around."

"…Ugh, I suppose you are right Shepard." turning to his navigator, Bray was unable to hide the discontent from his voice.

"Vana, give me the status of the Cerberus ships."

"They have split up in two groups. One group is made up of the dreadnought, one cruiser and one frigate. The second group has one cruiser and two frigates, which is the group closest to the moon."

"Well Shepard," Bray turned to face me, "Looks like we have luck on our side. Maybe we can do this without losing a single man after all."

…

Approaching the second group, it was decided that we would shoot several long range shots at the cruiser and hopefully, given our frigate's damaged appearance, Cerberus would send only one of their ships after us. Bray's frigate would then lead them within range of the defense guns on the moon, which would then shoot the enemy ship down. Luckily, Bray's ship, being a part of Aria's fleet, had some illegal equipment installed which doubled the normal range of its guns. On paper it seemed like an easy plan, but even with the illegal tech, as we approached the enemy ships everyone was on the edge of their seats. No doubt the Cerberus ships saw us. Given our appearance hopefully they would dismiss us as a threat until we fired upon them. At the very least we would be able to unleash a few rounds before we came within their range. Soon we were close enough to open fire.

"Crew listen up," Bray spoke into the intercom, "After we start to fire I want this ship to have been turned around and going as fast as possible towards the south end of the moon within thirty seconds. With our damaged engines the Cerberus ships will overrun us, so we will need the head start. Once I give the word, open fire…" Bray paused several seconds as if he was trying to convince himself this was the right thing to do, "…open fire."

The first shot from the main gun passed over the Cerberus cruiser, the second hit the edge of the Cruiser and the third shot directly hit it. Of course the shots did not do any real damage but it grabbed their attention. As commanded by Bray, his frigate promptly turned and ran.

"Sir," one of Bray's crewmen walked up to him, "It appears the cruiser has given chase and left the two frigates."

"Really? Our long range weapon must had unsettled them enough to think us that much of a threat. Well everyone this is going to be a shaky ride. That cruiser will come within range of us well before we reach the moon."

Little time had passed before the ship shook as one of the cruiser's guns hit it. Then the ship was hit again and again, each time the shaking becoming more violent.

"Sir!" one of the crew members ran up to Bray, "One more hit and our last layer of armor is gone!"

"We will make it! Just keep us going at full speed!"

We were merely seconds away from being within the moon turret's range. The frigate shook as we took another hit. Before the Cerberus cruiser could fire another shot, I was delighted when I saw several bursts of light from the moon's surface. Considering we had not taken another hit I knew that the turrets had been successful in destroying the enemy ship. I closed my eyes as I enjoyed being alive. When I opened them, I saw Bray speaking to his communications officer then walking over to me.

"Shepard, the Rear Admiral wants to meet you at the HQ in London, my Kodiak will transport you there whenever you are ready."


	3. Chapter 3

As I entered the Kodiak, I turned to bade farewell to Bray.

"Take care of yourself Bray."

"I'll be fine, besides if you killed a fleet of Reapers, you can deal with Cerberus. Who knows maybe this time I will not have to save your ass," after chuckling to himself for a few seconds, Bray then in a less joking tone added, "Keep yourself alive Shepard, the galaxy still needs you."

…

Reaching London, I was escorted by several Alliance soldiers to a nearby bunker. Taking an elevator further into the bunker, I entered the command center. Looking around the room, I was glad as I saw my mother walking towards me.

"John!" after giving me a quick hug she quickly turned all serious, "Good job, a good amount of the ship survived and crash landed in the Sierra desert. The turian blackwatch went to scout and recover any useful data from the wreckage."

"I remember them, does Captain Aetnis still lead the watch?"

"Last I checked he was alive and well…Shepard I would hate to ask this of you but are you physically ready for combat? Seeing you in combat would not only do wonders for moral but your skills will be needed."

"Of course, and I was hoping you would say that."

"Good, you will be working with Captain Aentis. I was hoping to have him here to greet you, but we lost contact with him around thirty minutes ago, probably due to a sandstorm but without any satellites it can not be confirmed. Just in case, two shuttles will be sent to extract them at the previously designated pick up time with battle ready alliance soldiers. I want you on those shuttles."

**...**

As the shuttle sped towards the Sierra, my fellow alliance comrades introduced themselves to me. There was Sergeant Ivar, Corporal York, and Privates Beckham and Maddison. Ivar was a good leader, also one of the few survivors from the initial assault on Earth, and York was a good sniper. I never talked to the Privates, as they did not say a word the entire flight. Not unusual these days for someone to silent. As the shuttle came closer to the wreckage, the sandstorm theory was confirmed. When we reached the LZ, I was the first one out.

"I can't make out anyone. Stay-" before I could finish my sentence a rocket, which came from seemingly nowhere, hit the shuttle, followed by another two. The shuttle spun out control, smashing into the second one. Taking cover behind a rock, I watched as the shuttles crashed, followed by a fiery explosion. It was impossible for anyone to have survived. The sandstorm had given the enemy the perfect setting for an ambush and they had taken advantage of it.

Peering through my Lancer's scope, I could barely make out the white armor of Cerberus soldiers, supported by several Atlases. Obviously there were many more survivors of the crash than anticipated. More than enough to kill me if I was spotted. Carefully I made my way around the soldiers as they moved to where the shuttles crashed. After reaching the main wreckage of the cruiser, I soon became lost in the ruined corridors of the downed ship. Still, I moved on in hopes of finding the turian team.

After searching, or more wandering, for some time I found a door with several fresh Cerberus corpses around. Hoping to find the turians and maybe a site of important data, I pried open the door and was greeted not only with the sight of what was left of the ships' command center but also several Vindicator rifles aimed at me.

"Shepard!" exclaimed Captain Aentis as he signaled his men to lower their weapons, "How the hell did you get here?"

"I was part of the group sent to extract you. Unfortunately no one else made it, a Cerberus ambush made sure of that. Luckily I was able to sneak off without getting caught."

"Shame. By the time we discovered Cerberus forces the sandstorm had blocked our communications. My sympathies Shepard."

"The best way we can honor their sacrifices is by gathering whatever intel we can from this ship," taking a look at the corpses around the room I continued, "I take it something important is here for there to be so many guards."

"My tech guy just finished downloading their databanks, no time to look at them until we return to base. In fact we were just about to leave. Care to join us?"

"Lead the way."

"Good, earlier we located the main Cerberus camp. My thoughts are; steal a shuttle and leave this shit pile behind."

Silently we traveled through the ship. Soon we encountered sentries as we approached their base camp. Attaching a silencer to my lancer I then fired at one of the two sentries. The shots burned through his armor and killed him before he even knew what hit him. The Captain swiftly took out the other sentry before he could call for reinforcements. Moving down the hallway we stopped at the entrance to the hanger bay. Looking at the hanger, the was a surplus of cover as containers from all over the ship had been moved here but there were also more than a few guards. On the far side of the bay were several shuttles.

"Captain, I'll distract Cerberus while you get a shuttle ready for launch. I'll keep them off you."

"Sounds good Shepard. Arlius and Rutia support Shepard, I will not allow the first human spectre to die on my mission. I'll never live it down. Everyone else, you are with me."

I scanned the area for some weakness to exploit, and soon spotted one. In the middle of the hanger was a dormant Atlas, with several Cerberus soldiers around it. Taking out my grenade launcher I unleashed a volley of grenades at the Atlas. The Atlas, incapable of withstanding the firepower, rocked the surrounding area as it violently exploded. The shrapnel tore through the surrounding Cerberus troops and several were knocked to the ground by the shock of the explosion. Not wasting the temporary advantage; Captain Aentis's group made for the shuttles, and my group took position. Arlius took cover by some crates near the middle, covering the area with his shotgun, while Rutia took cover on the right flank with her assault rifle. I took position on the left flank.

At first, the Cerberus forces were slaughtered. Caught off guard by the sudden attack and caught in the cross hairs of multiple lines of fire, they barely had time to shoot before they fell in puddles of their own blood on the floor. But soon we were running out of ammo and time as the surprise wore off. Well my Lancer did not require ammo, but the turians did. After taking out a combat engineer trying to set up a turret, my attention switched to one of the doors on the far side of the hanger bay. Another Atlas. Barely having enough time to shout out a warning, a missile from the Atlas impacted the crates I was hiding behind. I was shielded from the blast but my cover was destroyed and I was thrown to the floor as a result. I quickly got back on my feet, scrambling towards the nearest cover only to realize I did not have to.

The Captain finally had two shuttles up, and before the Atlas could fire at them it was hit by the guns of both. Needless to say, afterwards the Atlas was unable to return fire. One shuttle landed to pick my group up, the other staying in the air to cover us. Several large explosions rocked the hanger as soon as both shuttles had left.

"Shepard, I figured a few pretty explosions would cheer you up. So I planted a few extra bombs on the other shuttles," the turian Captain could not help grinning as he asked, "Was I right?"

"Aentis," I said with a chuckle despite of everything, "I can not remember a time you were wrong."


	4. Chapter 4

_Alliance Airfield, London_

The airfield was busting with traffic. Some Kodiaks were dropping off supplies and wounded troops while others transported squads of men out to fight on the battlefield of this torn apart planet. To be honest it feels like an eternity since Earth had not felt the fires of war, barely any time had passed since defeating the Reapers and already humanity's home world was under assault.

"Shepard," Captain Aentis immediately broke my trance as he continued, "You are looking worn out, you ok?"

"Just reflecting on our situation Captain."

"Hey," the Captain moved in front of me, blocking me from entering the elevator, "How about you get some rest and I'll brief your mother?"

"I doubt I have a bed to rest on."

"Take mine, I was given a private room on one of the upper levels of this bunker. I won't be using it, I prefer to stay with my men. Besides you are no help to anyone if you can't keep your eyes open." the Captain turned to Rutia before he entered the elevator, "Rutia you should remember where my room is, escort Shepard there. I will talk to you later Shepard."

Maybe it would be for the best to get some shut-eye. I turned around to face Rutia.

"Come on Commander, it's just down this corridor."

"Rutia if you do not mind me asking, how do you know where his room is?"

She replied with a chuckle.

…

In a pool of our own blood, Anderson and I sat propped up against a small circular platform behind us. We were too weak to do anything else.

"Commander." Anderson said as he stared at Earth.

"Yes we did."

"Yes we did. It's quite a view."

"Best seats in the house."

"God…feels like years since I just sat down."

"I think you earned a rest. Anderson, stay with me we're almost through this."

"You did good, son. You did good. I'm proud of you."

"Thank you sir. Anderson?" with my remaining strength I turned my head to face him. He looked like he was only resting but I knew better. Depressed, I looked down as my blood flowed from my side. I closed my eyes.

Waking up with a start covered in sweat, I opened my eyes and glanced around my small dark room. Everything looked the same as the other four times I had awoken that night. Every time I was able to sleep I would replay either the memory of Anderson's death or the death of my friend Mordin. It would be a long time until I could get a good night's sleep if I ever had it again in my lifetime. I got up from my bed and walked over to the only other piece of furniture in my quarters, a desk. If I was to be awake I would do something productive, so I began to write.

**...**

Several hours later I was still writing when I heard a knock on my door. Opening the door, I was greeted with the sight of Captain Aentis.

"Shepard," he said with a grin, "We hit ezoo with that Cerberus databank! It primarily contained the exact locations of where they would be setting up camps on Earth along with attack plans. The data proved itself when our lunar station was attacked last night, with that info Cerberus never stood a chance in the attack!"

"Well I'm glad it worked, the sooner Cerberus is kicked from the Sol System the better."

"You're telling me, I need to go see Palaven," he handed a datapad to me as he continued, "Before I forget, we have our next mission. Cerberus will try to establish a supply depot in Greenland, which they will also use as a launching pad to attack north-western Europe and the UNAS. They intend to do it soon which is why within the hour we are leaving, but we will have to be dropped off some way from the target. Our job is to go in, recover any important info, plant explosives around the fuel storage and their defenses then get the hell out of there. This datapad has anything I might had missed."

"Thanks for the heads up Aentis, I'll see you at the shuttle."

"Anytime Shepard, now I need to go get my team ready. I only received this data five minutes ago, so I doubt they have heard yet." with that the Captain turned and hustled down the hallway. Time to strap on my N7 armor.


	5. Chapter 5

Stepping off the shuttle onto the frozen earth, the cold air hit me like a punch to the gut. I could hear the sound of my boots crunching the snow as I took several steps forward. This mission would be hell. From the looks of it the Turians were not any better off with the cold. I would not be surprised if the freezing winds killed us before Cerberus did. With the last turian off the shuttle, our shuttle made a quick exit as it sped east over the Greenland Sea. For better or for worse we were now stuck in this frozen land.

"In case any of you were sleeping during the meeting," Captain Aentis took a moment to glare at Arlius, "We head straight west, the land is pretty flat with a few medium sized hills so terrain should not be a problem. If we see a Cerberus shuttle we all hit the deck, our camo will keep us hidden. All in all, we should reach their base in four hours. Now let's get a move on!

The next few hours were slow as we made our grueling hike through the frozen wasteland. The chilling wind seemed to go straight through my armor. Before long I lost track of time. After what seemed like an eternity, as we were heading up a rather large and steep hill the Captain called for us to halt and hit the deck. A few anxiety filled moments passed. Aentis signaled me up to him. After crawling up to the top of the hill beside him, he handed me his binoculars. I stared out over the pre-fab structures below us which made up the Cerberus base.

"Well Shepard," Captain Aentis said as he gazed at the structures, "Cerberus works fast. I count sixteen buildings ahead of us, all connected with one another. On the east side of the base, the side we are on, is a parked Mako right next to an entrance to the buildings. It's likely their combat information center is somewhere there. On the north side there seems to be a fuel depot, and on the west the airfield and a radio tower. There are several turrets, anti-air and anti-vehicle, scattered around the base. We should be able to sneak by them with no problem. I say after nightfall we split into three teams, one plants explosives at the fuel depot, another secures a shuttle for evac at the airfield and plants explosives on everything else. The third team goes to their combat information center. That team downloads any data and makes sure the turrets are disabled for when our guys assault this base."

"Good idea, we should also post a sniper on this hill to cover us. As long as he uses a silencer we can still use stealth to our advantage."

"Then it's settled, we get to it under the cover of night. Shepard you'll lead Alpha team and go for the command center. I'll lead Bravo and go for the fuel depot, and Rutia you lead Charlie to the airfield. Demius will be our sharpshooter. Now let's get down to business."

…

"Alpha you are clear to move up."

Trusting Demius, I gave the signal for my team to move up. Within an instant we all left our concealed positions and rushed to the parked Mako. I took a moment to make sure my team was here. Next to me was the shotgun wielding Arlius and beside him was Caldros. The only thing Caldros was better at then hacking was killing with his pistol.

"Alpha stay put, another patrol of three is coming from the south."

I quickly rolled under the Mako, followed by the rest of my team. Lying there, we held our breath as the patrol walked by.

"Alpha, the patrol is gone but a mechanic just exited the building. It looks like he is going to take a look at the Mako. I'll neutralize him."

Looking out from under the Mako I saw a pair of feet walk around the Mako, then I heard the sound of blood splattering against the Mako followed by the man dropping to the ground.

"Clean shot on the mechanic."

Knowing we had little time we took a key from the dead man then stashed him under the Mako. We hurried to the nearby door, and readied to breach it. I had the left side of the door, Caldros had the right and Arlius took point with his shotgun.

"This is Alpha, we are entering the building."

"This is Bravo, we just reached the fuel depot. We'll be getting down to business shortly."

"This is Charlie, we are approaching the airfield."

Nodding to Arlius, I used the key and the door slid open. Rushing in, he checked the room as I came in behind him. It was empty. As we swept through the surrounding rooms the few guards we ran into were taken out quickly and quietly. Before long we ran into another door requiring a key to open. We readied to breach.

"This is Bravo, we are beginning to plant the explosives."

"This is Charlie, we will not be able to get a shuttle in the air for evac due to several Atlases patrolling the airfield."

"Don't worry," Captain Aetnis's laughing could be heard over the comms, "Team Bravo has it covered, just rendezvous at the fuel depot."

"Alpha here, we have not found the CIC yet but it shouldn't be long."

Now it was my turn to take point. I stormed in as the door opened. Past the door was a corridor, where two guards stood talking to each other. Before they could react my lancer sent them to the floor.

It was a good bet that the CIC was past the next door. If so I wanted to be the first man in. We again took positions. The door opened. Moving swiftly I brought down several guards as Arvlius used his shotgun to cover my flank. The few survivors were rewarded with a blast to the head from Caldros's pistol. Unfortunately for us there was a door on each side of the room, each one with guards outside. Even with our silencers it was impossible for them to not hear the skirmish.

"Caldros!" I said as I surpressed several Cerberus troops by one of the doors, "Get on those computers and shut all these doors but the one we came from! Arlius help me cover him!"

Covering Caldros proved a difficult task as there was no cover in the room besides the computers and other tech arranged in a semi-circle in the center of the room. Needless to say, we could not afford having the tech getting ripped apart by thermal clips. I blocked the path between Caldros and the nearby Cerberus assault troopers by placing my body in the way. Within moments my shields broke. Luckily just as a Centurion was taking aim all the doors slammed shut.

"Commander," Caldros turned to face me, "All doors to this room are locked and secure. I am hacking into the Cerberus systems now, I'll recover any useful data and upload a virus to render the base turrets useless. As soon as you want, I'll open whatever door you need."

"Good work," looking for Arlius I saw him leaning against the wall, "Arlius you good?"

"Fine Commander, just applying some medi-gel. Nothing I can't handle."

"Alpha Team here," I said as I spoke into my comm, "We are downloading the data and sabotaging all defensive turrets but we alerted Cerberus."

"Captain Aentis here. Bravo and Charlie teams are at the rendezvous, Alpha we will wait for you."

Approaching the door we used to enter, Arlius took cover across from me as I signaled Caldros to open it. Some Cerberus engineer had already set up a portable turret at the other end of the corridor. Before it could fire I threw two grenades down the corridor. One to take care of the shields and the second to finish it off. No doubt this was the least guarded exit but we would be torn apart if we tried to run down the corridor.

"Scratch that, Alpha team is stuck."

"Hmm…I have an idea, just hold them off until we arrive."

We were trapped and all we could do was hold the line.


End file.
